Chicago Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky has been termed a sleeper by a few fantasy experts, yet he's being drafted as the No. 21 quarterback in ESPN leagues. It just goes to show how deep the position is this year.

Fantasy football preview: Some notes to remember heading into drafts

Chicago Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky has been termed a sleeper by a few fantasy experts, yet he's being drafted as the No. 21 quarterback in ESPN leagues. It just goes to show how deep the position is this year.

DeVante Parker, Miami (questionable for start of season with broken finger)

Terrelle Pryor, New York Jets (questionable for Week 1, recovering from ankle surgery)

Quincy Enunwa, New York Jets (questionable for Week 1 with thumb injury)

Dante Pettis, San Francisco (questionable for start of season with a knee injury)

Tight ends

Hunter Henry, Los Angeles Chargers (out for the season with a torn ACL)

Jermaine Gresham, Arizona (active PUP list, torn Achilles)

Jesse James, Pittsburgh (questionable for start of season with a back injury)

Vance McDonald, Pittsburgh (questionable for start of season with a foot injury)

Would you have guessed either of these two?

Only two quarterbacks have passed for at least 4,000 yards and 25 touchdowns each of the past three seasons: Minnesota’s Kirk Cousins and the Los Angeles Chargers’ Philip Rivers. Cousins is currently the ninth QB off the ESPN board (89.6 ADP), while Rivers is the 16th (117.9 ADP).

Cole train?

Jacksonville wide receiver Keelan Cole didn’t start until Week 13 last season, but he led the NFL with 475 receiving yards in the final five games. And now with Marqise Lee suffering a season-ending knee injury in a preseason game a few days ago, Cole will get even more of an opportunity to try to continue that level of production from late last season.

#Jaguars first-team offense has run 53 pass plays over their last two preseason games (vs. MIN, ATL). First-string WR snaps on pass plays are:

That's just something to keep in the back of your mind if you're deciding between receivers in a draft.

Point totals to shoot for

In the past two years, the average playoff team in 10-team ESPN PPR leagues has scored 121.5 points per week. In standard leagues, it was 94 points per week.

Late-season blues

New England quarterback Tom Brady hasn't been his elite self in Weeks 13-16 in each of the past FOUR seasons. He’s finished QB20, QB9, QB8 and QB14 in those seasons. In case you're wondering, the Patriots play against Minnesota, at Miami, at Pittsburgh and against Buffalo in Weeks 13-16 this season.

Going for distance

Of Green Bay running back Aaron Jones' 81 carries last season, eight went for at least 15 yards. Only New Orleans' Alvin Kamara had a better frequency rate of 15-plus-yard runs. Jones averaged 5.5 yards a carry last season, which ranked tied for fifth in the NFL if you count all running backs regardless of their carry totals. Only Kamara (6.1) and Philadelphia's Jay Ajayi (5.8) had higher averages among starting backs.

The Watson effect

Houston running back Lamar Miller scored four of his six touchdowns last season in games that Deshaun Watson started at quarterback. Watson started only six games before tearing his ACL. Miller finished 14th among running backs in standard leagues and 16th in PPR leagues despite rushing for only 888 yards and three TDs. His receiving numbers (36-327, 3 TDs, 20.4 yards a catch) obviously helped.

Remember how he finished

Baltimore's Alex Collins was the seventh-best fantasy running back (11th in PPR leagues) in the final five weeks of last season. He finished as a top-20 fantasy back even though he didn’t get more than nine carries in a game until Week 5. He scored all six of his rushing TDs from Weeks 11-17.

You can't count on top defenses

According to FantasyPros.com, only 20 percent of the top five defenses drafted in the past three seasons have actually finished in the top five. Furthermore, 48 percent of those defenses finished worse than 12th.

Look for my 2018 fantasy football preview page in Wednesday's editions of The Virginian-Pilot and at this location online.

Joe Kacik has been a copy/layout editor, specializing in sports, at the Pilot for the past 11 years. He's provided fantasy sports content for both online and print products since 2011. He has previously worked at The Sun News in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

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joe.kacik@pilotonline.com

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